Abstract
Posttrauma anesthetic agents influence neuroendocrine responses that may affect fear memory. The effects of a subanesthetic intravenous (IV) ketamine infusion on mediators of stress and memory in rodents are unknown. Therefore, we used a clinically relevant method to administer a 2-hour subanesthetic IV ketamine infusion following a rodent fear-conditioning paradigm (paired tone plus foot shock) to evaluate the effects on corticosterone and brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the plasma of male Sprague-Dawley rats. We found that subanesthetic ketamine infusions (5 and 20 mg/kg/h) dose-dependently increased plasma corticosterone levels. Ketamine at 20 mg/kg/h significantly reduced plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor measured 2 hours after the conclusion of the ketamine infusion. These results demonstrate that a subanesthetic IV ketamine infusion maintained a heightened neuroendocrine stress response after fear conditioning and reduced levels of a neurotrophin associated with memory, which may influence fear memory processing. The behavioral outcomes of these effects are unknown and warrant future investigation.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 393-400 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | AANA journal |
Volume | 86 |
Issue number | 5 |
State | Published - 2018 |
Keywords
- BDNF
- Corticosterone
- Fear conditioning
- Ketamine
- Rats
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medical–Surgical
- Advanced and Specialized Nursing
- Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine